The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-12-01

DeLl4cneil. WHICH Is Dy Tie Sdle. Ii
God be for us, who can be against us?'
'If God spared not his own Son, but
freely gave him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all
things?" For | am persuaded that
neither height, nor depth, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come,' shall take
from us into final captivity the Gospel of
my blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, the Gospel well, like the one
spoken of in my text, is a well at the
gate. The traveller stops the camel to-
day, and gets down and dips out of the
valley Of the east some very beautiful.
clear, bright water, and that is out Of
the very well that David lOnged for. Do
you know that that well was at the gate
so that nobody could go into Bethlehem
without going right past it? And so it is
with this Gospel well-it is at the gate
1t is. in the first place, at the gate of
purificatiOn. We cannot wash away our
sins unless with that water. | take the
responsibility of saying that there is no
man. woman or child in this house
today that has escaped sinful defile-
ment. Do you say it is outrageous
and ungallant for me to make such
a charge? Do you say, Il have never
stolen-I have never blasphemed-I have
never committed unchastity-I have
never been guilty Of murder" I reply,
you have committed a sin worse than
blasphemy, worse than unchastity, worse
than theft worse than murder. We have
all committed it. We have by our sin
re-crucified the Lord, and that is decide.
And if there be any who Care to plead
F'not guilty" to the indictment, then the
hosts of heaven will be impaneled as
Jury to render a unanimous verdict against
us; guilty one, guilty all. With what a
slashing stroke that one passage cuts us
away from all our pretensions: "There
is none that doeth good-no not one. D."
"Oh," says some one, ''all we want, all
the race wants, is development. Now
want to tell yoE that the race develops
without the Gospel into a Sodon, a Five
Points, a great Salt Lake City. 1t always
develops downward, and never upward.
except as the grace Of God lays hold of
it. What, then, is to become of our soul
without Christ? Banishment. Disaster.
But 1 bless my Lord Jesus Christ that
there is a well at the gate of publication.
years of transgression, an eternity of for
giveness. For crime deep as hell, an
atoneneAt high as heaven; that where
sin abounded, SO grace may much more
abound; that as sin reigned unto death,
even SO may grace reign through right
eousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Angel of the Conenant, dip
thy wing in this living fountain today,
and wave it over this solemn assemblage,
that our souls may be washed in ''tho
water of the well Of Bethlehem, which is
by the gate"
Further, l remark that this well of
the Gospel is at the gate of comfort. Do
you know where David was when lie
uttered the words 81 the text? He Was
in the cave of Adullam. That is where
some of you are now. Has the world
always gone smoothly with you? Has it
! never pursued you with slander? Is
your health always good? Have your
fortunes never perished? Are your chill
dren all alive and well? Is there one
dead lamb in the fold? Are you ign0-
rant of the way to the cemetery? Have
you ever heard the bell toll when it
seemed as if every stroke of the iron
as bright when you look INTO them as
| they used TO be when other eyes, nov
| closed, used to look into them? Is there
some trunk or drawer in your house that
you go to only on anniversary days,
when there comes beating against your
soul the surf of a great ocean of agony?
| It is the cave of Adullam. The cave Cf
| AduBam Is there some David here
| whose fatheriy heart wayward AbSalOn
has broken? Is there some Abraham bera
| who is lonely because Sarah is dead in
the family plot of Machpelah? After
thirty or forty years of cOmpaniOnship,
how hard it was for them to part! Why
not have two seats In the Lords chariot,
so that both the old folks might have
gone pp at once? My aged mother, IN
| her last moment, said to my father,
sFather, wouldn' t it be nice if we could
both go together?" No, no, no, We
must part And there are wounded
hearts here today. The world cannot
comfort you. What can it bring you:
Nothing. Nothing. The salve they try
TO put on your wounds will not stick.
They cannot, with their bungling sur
gerry, mend the broken bones,
Zoppar the Naamatnite, and Bildad
the Shuhite, and Eliphaz the Temanite,
come in and talk, and talk, and talk, but
miserable comforters are they all. They
cannot p1-r light into the cave of Adul-
lam. They cannot bring a single draught
of water from 1.-The well of Bethlehem,
which is by the gate But glory be to
Jesus Christ, there is comfort at the gate!
There is life in the well at the gate. Ii
you give me time, will draw up prom
Use for every man, woman and child III
this house. Aye, I will do it in two
minutes. will lay hold the rope Of the
old well. What is your trouble? "Oh, :"
you say, u am so sick, so weary of life
ailments after ailments" l will draw
up promise: ''The inhabitants shall
never say, i am sick. What is your
trouble? ''Oh it is loss Of friends--be-
reavement," you say. l will draw you
up promise, fresh and cool, out of the
well: 81 am the resurrection and the life;
he that belicveth in me, though he We're
dead, yet shall he live" What is your
trouble? You say it is the infirmites of
old age. | will draw you up a promise:
Down to old age l am with thee, to
hoary hairs will l carry thee" What is
your LTOuDle! 'Ou, you say, Il lliiNS
a widowed soul, and my children cry for
bread" l bring up this promise: leave
thy fatherless children-I will preserve
them alive, and let thy widows trust in
me- l break through the armed ranks
of your sorrows today, and bring to your
parched lips ''a drink of the water of the
wen of Bethlehem, which is by the
gate"
Again, the Gospel we'll is at the gate
Of heaven. 1 have not heard yet one
single intelligent account of the future
world from anybody who does not be
heve in the Bible. They throw such {
fog about the subject that do not want
to go to the skeptic's heaven, TO the
} transcendentalist' heaven, to the worldly
philosophers heaven. l would not eX
change the poorest room in your houst
for the fineut heaven that Huxley or Stu
art Mill on Darwin ever dreamed of